Collaborative Practice for Divorce

This site is about Collaborative Practice as an internal and external process, for the spouses and for the family of divorce.

Conflict Resolution is a process, not a destination. It involves both the external discussions and negotiations between spouses, as well as the internal shifts within each person as they absorb, adapt, adjust to the powerful emotions and changing circumstances of couple and family life. This is a blog about moving through the process, from both the personal and the professional perspective.

Collaborative Practice | Mediation

Clients often want to know what makes for a “good divorce”. They instinctively know that keeping their children front and center in their divorce process will make for a better outcome for everyone in the family. However, few people seem able to articulate the stages of a process that yields

Once again, we found ourselves at Terminal 4, in the evening hustle and bustle of international departures at JFK. Another year, and another trip our daughter was taking to study abroad, this time heading into a war-torn conflict zone. We began with a farewell dinner together, the three of us

It's a New Year, and the "Polar Vortex" is upon us all. Really. The entire country is submerged in Arctic air. It's warmer in Antarctica than in Minnesota. It's an upside-down world. Relationships, too, move from hot to cold, sometimes in a matter of moments. Communication fails, emotion erupts, we

Moving from one mindset to an alternate mindset isn't easy, even with Zen guidance or years of psychotherapy in your repertoire. It involves shifting awareness amidst the murky waters of emotion, and often doesn't happen as fluidly as we imagine it will. I spend a lot of time talking with

Emotion 2 Motion

Michele Gargan, PsyD Susan thinks Jack is a space cadet. Jack thinks Susan is a control freak. Elaine thinks Mary is indecisive. Mary thinks Elaine is impulsive. Fred overwhelms people with his presence. Nobody ever notices Charlie. How did Susan, Jack, Elaine and Mary come to these judgments? What is

by Allison Bell, Psy.D and Michele Gargan, Psy.D Have you ever noticed that the language that we use to express some of our strongest feeling states and reactions makes reference to the body? “I have a gut reaction to that” “My boss is a pain in the neck/butt/ass” “I feel

You've heard of this thing called contra dancing and you find yourself at the Guiding Star Grange, having also heard that this is the Mecca of contra groove. Maybe you're a newbie, uncertain if you have rhythm, if you can count and walk and listen all at the same time.

By Allison Bell Dancing at the Guiding Star Grange is about participating in the link between past and present. It is revival and survival, keeping traditions alive while interweaving them with new spirit and creativity. It is about renewal and release, relaxation and rejoining in the sense of community that

Parenting requires shared weight too, the weight of responsibility, whether it's running errands, covering for the other parent while they attend to something else imperative, the share of an agreement or an exchange. The most wonderful parenting moments occur when you can feel at ease in the shared aspect of the role, when you know the other parent can be relied upon, counted on to bear an equitable share of the weight of the task.

Long before we can speak, we are observers, receivers of the movements and intentions of others. Though unable to express ourselves in words, we still codify our experiences and have the capacity to recollect them vividly, all the more so once language develops. A client helps me to remember that